Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which properly manages a use record and history of replacement about a consumable, such as a toner cartridge.
Description of the Related Art
Recent image forming apparatuses typically use a cartridge into which toner, a photosensitive drum, and a developing unit are integrated, as a replaceable consumable. Some cartridges are equipped with a storage medium, such as a memory tag. Each time the filled toner is consumed, a use record including the number of print media on which images are formed and the amount of toner consumed in each time is recorded in the memory tag. In such a cartridge, information indicating the total amount of toner consumed so far is recorded in the memory tag. This provides an advantage that the remaining amount of toner can be accurately estimated even if the cartridge is mounted on another image forming apparatus.
Nowadays identifiers and use records of cartridges may be stored in a memory on the main body side of the image forming apparatus when the cartridges are mounted or replaced. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-250087 discusses an image forming apparatus which reads life information changing according to the use of a consumable from a memory tag included in a cartridge, and stores the life information in a memory on the apparatus main body side.
Aside from ones provided by the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus, cartridges provided by other than the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus may be mounted on the image forming apparatus. The toner filled in the latter cartridges does not always have the same characteristic as that of toner contained in the former cartridges. Some users consider it a print defect that color developability or color reproducibility varies before and after the replacement of a cartridge, and troubles can occur. As a measure for analyzing causes at the occurrence of such troubles, individual information unique to a cartridge, such as a cartridge identifier, is stored in the memory tag, and the stored individual information is read and recorded on the apparatus main body side. However, there is a problem that if the memory tag on the cartridge side becomes inaccessible for any reason (a failure or non-mounting), the individual information about the cartridge is unable to be recorded in the apparatus main body.
Such a problem occurs commonly in apparatuses that perform image formation using consumables that store individual information, being not limited to cartridges.